226 ASCLEPiADEiE. [Mursdenia. 



Staminal corona of 5 entire scales, inserted on the gynostegium behind the 

 anthers, acute or acuminate, without inner appendages. Pollen-masses erect, 

 ovoid, attached in pairs. Stigma convex or beaked. — Twiners. Flowers 

 usually small, in cymes or dense bunches, on interpetiolar peduncles. 



A considerable genus, chiefly found in tropical Asia or in Australia, with a few species scat- 

 tered over tropical America, one Japanese and one S. European one. 



Flowers scarcely 11 lines long, turning a blue-black when dried, in 

 dense oblong bunches. Corolla-lobes glabrous, except the hairs 

 closing the throat \. M. tinctoria. 



Flowers 2 lines long, not turning blue, in a rather broad compact cyme. 



Corolla-lobes tonientose inside 2. M. lachnostoma. 



1. M. tinctoria, R. Br.; Dene, in DC. Prod. viii. 615 ; Wight, Ic. t. 

 589. A twiner, with the young branches softly pubescent, but becoming 

 glabrous with age. Leaves stalked, ovate or oval-oblong, acuminate, cordate 

 at the base, 1^ to 3 in. long, more or less pubescent when young, but nearly 

 glabrous when full-grown. Peduncles about the length of the petioles, bear- 

 ing a dense ovoid or oblong bunch of small flowers, drying of a bluish-black 

 colour ; in some continental specimens the bunch lengthens out into a clustered 

 raceme of several inches. Sepals about ^ line long, obovate and very obtuse. 

 Corolla nearly 1^ lines long, narrow-campanulate ; the lobes shorter than the 

 tube, and quite glabrous, except the ring of erect hairs which closes the throat. 

 Staminal corona of 5 narrow-lanceolate scales on the backs of the anthers and 

 nearly as long. Stigma not beaked. Follicles hairy, reflexed, about 2 in. long. 



In ravines of Mount Victoria, Champion. Common in Eastern Bengal and Assam, ex- 

 tending to Burmah and Java, and northward to Formosa. 



2. M. lachnostoma, Benth., n. sp. A twiner, with the young branches 

 and inflorescence slightly pubescent, but otherwise quite glabrous. Leaves 

 oblong, obtuse or obtusely acuminate, 1 to 2 in. long, rounded or slightly cor- 

 date at the base, pale or glaucous underneath, on petioles of 3 to 6 lines. 

 Peduncles longer than the petioles, bearing a compact cyme or compound 

 umbel, much shorter than the leaf; the flowers larger than in M. tinctoria, 

 without any of the blue tint of that species. Pedicels about 1 line. Sepals 

 about as long, ovate, rather obtuse. Corolla about 2 lines long, narrow-cam- 

 panulate ; the lobes rather shorter than the tube and tomentose inside, with a 

 very dense tuft of woolly hairs closing the orifice, and a few reflexed ones in 

 the upper part of the tube. Staminal corona of 5 thin ovate-lanceolate scales 

 on the backs of the anthers and shorter than them. Stigma not beaked. 



Hongkong, Wright. Not in any other collection, except perhaps a specimen in fruit from 

 Canton in the Hookerian Herbarium, which has the same foliage and infloresence. The 

 follicles are narrow, very divaricate or almost reflexed, 3 to 4 in. long, and glabrous. 



6. STEPHAWOTIS, Thou. 



Corolla-tube cylindrical or slightly swollen at the base ; the lobes oblique, 

 spreading, contorted in the bud. Staminal-corona of 5 entire scales or lobes, 

 attached or adnate to the gynostegium behind the stamens, without inner 

 appendages. Pollen-masses erect, attached in pairs. Stigma conical or ovoid. 

 Follicles spreading. — Twiners. Leaves opposite. Flowers large, usually 

 sweet-scented, Avhite, in pedunculate interpetiolar umbels. 



